"Listening to poets read their work in the barn, you can almost feel Frost’s presence..."
2025 Hyla Brook Reading Series
Join a community of poets and poetry lovers who gather in the intimate setting of Robert Frost's barn to hear nationally-acclaimed poets read their work. Except for August, readings begin Thursdays at 6:30pm, include a reading by a Hyla Brook poet before the featured reader and are followed by an open mic. All readings are free and open to the public. For easy reminders, click the icons at bottom of the page and follow us on social media.
Alfred Nicol — Thursday, June 12, 6:30pm
Alfred Nicol's collection of poems, After the Carnival, was published this spring by Wiseblood Books. His first book of poems in 2004, Winter Light, was chosen for the Richard Wilbur Award. Other publications include Animal Psalms, Elegy for Everyone and Brief Accident of Light, a collaboration with Rhina Espaillat. With Espaillat and classical/flamenco guitarist John Tavano, he is part of the music-and-poetry ensemble, The Diminished Prophets. Nicol's translation of the lyrics for "Sing the Triumph of the Lord" were used for the official anthem of International Eucharistic Congress convened in 2021 by Pope Francis in Budapest. His translation of One Hundred Visions of War by Julien Vocance, has been called “an essential addition to the history of modernist poetry.”
Stephan Anstey — Thursday, July 10, 6:30pm
Stephan Anstey is a family man, poet, artist, and founder of the Lowell Writers Group in Massachusetts. His work blends humor, absurdism, melancholy, and occasional sharp observations, into many different media including poetry, sketches, paintings, and digital collage. Anstey is the author of several books, including Learning to do Without and Squirrels, Turtles, Tyrannical Bastards & Fascist Pigs. His poems and artwork draw inspiration from Lowell and all his travels near and far.
Special Reading, Frost Farm Conference: Winner of the 2025 Frost Farm Prize for Metrical Poetry Christopher Childers, Friday, August 15, 7pm
Christopher Childers is the author of The Penguin Book of Greek and Latin Lyric Verse (Penguin Classics), a Times Literary Supplement and Australian Book Review Best Book of 2024. His work has appeared in The Yale Review, The Kenyon Review, Smartish Pace, Literary Matters and Best American Poetry. Childers holds a BA in Classics from UNC Chapel Hill and an MFA in Poetry from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. He is a recent transplant to Los Angeles, where he teaches Latin.
Matthew Buckley Smith — Thursday, Sept. 11, 6:30pm
Matthew Buckley Smith was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the winner of the Able Muse Book Award, 2011, for his Manuscript, Dirge for an Imaginary World, forthcoming from Able Muse Press, Spring 2012. He earned his MFA in poetry at the Johns Hopkins University. His poems have appeared in various magazines, including Beloit Poetry Journal, Commonweal, Iron Horse Literary Review, Measure, The Alabama Literary Review, Think Journal, and Best American Poetry. His poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, Joanna.
